Fire Thief
by Dream Fox
Summary: Parallel to Fox Child, can be read without Hiei was a fire demon raised by thieves; this is his story. Begins about when he meets Kurama, but it isn't centered around their relationship. Update!
1. To Kill or Not to Kill

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies…

Warning: This story is a parallel! It can be read by itself, but if you enjoy it, you will probably like my story "Fox Child" about Kurama's childhood.

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"I am not an assassin," Hiei spat at the group of demons on the platform.

"Yes," the leader drawled. "We are aware of that. Your talents lie in your speed, not your silent deaths. However, all of our assassins are currently on other missions and this is a rather simple job. Besides, you have been idle for quite some time. Keeping busy is good for you while your talents are not needed."

Hiei rolled his eyes. When the leader of the Fang Thieves said "keeping busy" he meant keeping out of trouble. Anyway, the Fangs knocked over palaces and dungeons only about once every twenty years. Hiei's skills were not needed most of the time.

However, having nothing else to do, Hiei reluctantly nodded. "Very well," he agreed. "What's the job?"

"You are need to find and kill a low class ogre demon by the name of Mantis. He is wondering in the human world and robbing some of our better jewel stashes. He needs to die and he needs to die now. Failure is not an option." 

"Fine," Hiei agreed. "I'll do it. But only if you agree to one thing."

"You are in no position to bargain with us, half breed," snapped one of the higher demons.

But the leader raised his hand to silence him. "Let us hear what he has to say. Proceed, Hiei."

"I want an interesting job after this," Hiei told them. "No more assassinations, no more simple pit pocketing. I want a break in."

The leader considered this for a moment. Finally he nodded. "Alright, we agree to your terms. If you successfully kill Mantis, you will get your new assignment when you return. Now go to Kilna and get the details on Mantis. Do not return until he is dead." With that, Hiei stood up and left the room with a final bow at the door.

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"What!" Hiei cried, looking at the paper he was holding. "They made it sound like this Mantis was an low class demon! He's almost as high on the charts as I am!"

"And an ugly one too," Kilna said, looking over his shoulder at the paper. On it was a picture of a rather primitive looking blue ogre demon, with a small horn coming out of its head and long teeth and talons. 

"Think you can handle him?" Kilna asked Hiei.

Hiei scoffed. "Of course. I may be just a class ahead of him, but I am the assassinator and he is the victim. I naturally have the upper hand."

"I know, Hiei," Kilna said, shaking his head. "But greater demons have been killed by him. He's no push over by a long shot." Hiei just shrugged it off. Kilna was making him nervous.

"He lives in Japan," Hiei noticed in surprise, looking down at the paper. "That's good. It's one of the closest human countries to the boarder of demon world and human world."

"Yeah," Kilna agreed. "A lot of the demons like to stay near the boarder in case they have to get away fast. Be careful though and mask your ki. Because it's the preferred area, there will probably be other demons around."

Hiei scoffed once more, but didn't argue. Kilna was probably right, anyway. No point in taking chances.

"Who's my partner?" Hiei asked the black, feline demoness.

"You don't have one. This is a solo mission," she told him. "I warned you. This mission is not as simple as it appears."

"I suppose so," Hiei said, looking at the description on the paper. "But I'll still win."

"I'm sure you will," Kilna said, kissing him lightly on the cheek as a goodbye and walked back into the storeroom. Hiei blushed furiously as he watched her go. 

'Idiot cat demons,' he thought to himself. 'They always have to be so sensual.' Then he turned and walked back out the door to the portal.

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It took Hiei no less then five weeks to find the ogre demon. Mantis didn't make any moves for the first couple weeks, probably sensing that something was up.

In the third week, he knocked over one of the Fang's smaller stashes, buried in a small mountain. Unfortunately, he left absolutely no trace of his ware-abouts and Hiei was forced to wait once again for any suspicious movement in the underground demon realm. 

At the end of the fourth week, he made a mistake. One of the jewels he had stolen had a particular rare attribute. The demon, not being particularly strong in ki attacks and manipulation, was not aware of its rarity. The jewel gave its wearer a large ki boost, making Mantis's ki nearly double. Before he had the jewel, his power was low enough for him to go almost totally undetected without shields of any sort. Now, he stood out like a beacon.

Hiei finally tracked the demon to a small city in the outskirts of Japan. The city was called Rorna and had the reputation of being moderately quiet as far as demons went. The ground itself had almost no extra power stored, making it not the most appealing of places for demons who fed off of ki. But, for a demon who mostly relied on his strength and power to get the job done, it was the idle place for any fight.

'Damn,' Hiei thought, sitting in the top of a tree, watching a couple kids play in a small park by a forest glade. 'I couldn't find a worse place to have a fight if I tried. The ground is practically eating my OWN energy. There's nothing to be done though.'

He cast his aura out, widening it until it covered most of the city. He then scanned it for powerful ki; the most powerful one was probably going to be Mantis's. When at last he found it, he watched it for a moment. It didn't flicker with any extra energy or life, which meant he wasn't around his new stash of treasure, recently stolen from the Fangs. 'Perfect,' Hiei grinned to himself. 'It's exactly the right time to attack.'

Fallowing the ki, he found himself in one of the dumpier parts of town, just outside a bar with the peeling letters that named it "Kusco's Joint." Hiei watched him for a moment. The demon had done an excellent job disguising himself, the fire demon had to admit that. He looked no better then the rest of the humans in the bar, worn down and looking like he had had a few drinks too many. It was probably the work of a stone he had stolen. 'Hn,' Hiei considered. 'Might come in handy some time. I'll have to bring it back to the rest of the 'Thieves.'

Then, without a second thought, he set his plot in motion. Letting his own ki flicker a little, Hiei waited until the demon noticed. Fortunately, Mantis wasn't drunk enough to not sense a ki as strong as Hiei's. The fire demon didn't relish the idea of sitting around outside a bar all day.

Mantis stood up, paid his bill, and walked out of the bar. As he got outside, he looked around, back and forth down the street, trying to find which way the strong ki was coming from. Hiei, continuing to let his ki flicker a little, hopped down the street, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. The demon fallowed, completely unaware of the trap he was being set up in. 'Hn,' Hiei scoffed. 'Ignorant. What's that human term again? Like a moth to the flame?'

The fire demon continued to lead the demon down the street, and onto the next, twisting and turning in a maze of patterns. But Hiei knew exactly where he was going: to the exact same forest glade he had sat in this morning. That way they would avoid involving humans. Not that he had any particular fondness toward the selfish species, and in fact, would probably think the world a better place with one more gone. But, when humans got involved, things got hectic. They tended to over dramatize all murders, making it seem like a huge deal. Besides, that would draw attention to the Fangs, and they wouldn't be thankful for that.

When they passed by the park next to the forest, Hiei quickly sent the children away with a quick flick of power. For some reason, he held a slight sympathy for the younger ones of the species, although whether it was a fondness for children in general or a pity for the fact that they would grow up to be just like the other of their low class kind, even he himself wasn't sure. But, either way, the glade would be empty, the perfect place to make a kill.

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Hello everybody!

Dream Fox here, the author of this story! Most of you have probably read my other story, Fox Child, first, but if you haven't, you'd probably like it. Go check it out.

Because this story is a parallel, however, some of the dialogue will be the exact same as that of Fox Child. It has to be, or else it wouldn't be a parallel. However, this story will be focusing on Hiei and his point of view, rather then Kurama's. Let me know what you think!

Because my next chapter is already written, it will be up very soon, probably no later then Saturday evening. Check it out then!

I think that's it for now! Reviews are drooled over, while flames are revived with bared fangs and claws!

Dream Fox


	2. Battle to the Life

Disclaimer: Who cares?

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When at last the demon entered the middle of the forest, Hiei let his ki stop flickering. In fact, he even strengthened his shields, making sure that there was no possible way that Mantis would know he was there. 

Mantis stood in a small opening in the trees, looking around at all the different trees. He would know something was up; he wasn't that stupid. But, if Hiei could quickly dart out in just a flash and kill the demon, he would be dead before he even knew what was happening.

The fire demon crouched in the shadow in the limbs of one of the trees, watching the other demon closely, waiting for his chance. Then, as the other demon turned around, still looking for his ki, he knew it was time. 'There!' he cried in his mind.

Diving out of the shadows, Hiei pulled out his sword with one swoop. Holding it out before him as he fell to the ground, he aimed straight for the demons head. But something happened. Whether it was demon instinct or something else, Hiei never knew. With a quick turn, Mantis saw Hiei coming right at him. Without even thinking, he switched quickly over to his demon self, just in time to block with the sharp claws of his right hand.

Hiei pulled back just in time to avoid the claws of Mantis's other hand, which swiped dangerously close to his head. Crouching at the ground nearby, the two demons studied each other.

"Who sent you?" Mantis demanded.

"You need not know," Hiei said, as his jumped forward to try and give a new wound to the other demon. "All you need know is that your deeds are finally catching up with you." He gave another slash with his sword, which the demon easily avoided and countered with a stab from his own claws.

"So this is a revenge kick, is it?" the demon asked, swiping his claws at Hiei's head, which the fire demon easily ducked, put cut off a few small black hairs.

"Now is not the time to talk," Hiei told him, making a jab at Mantis's stomach, which he blocked with his claws. "Fight me."

The demon grinned. "You ask, I can do not but obey." And suddenly, with a new burst of speed, swiped at the black haired demon's sword.

The claws missed, but contacted with something much more important. "Argh!" Hiei cried, taking a duck roll, dropping his sword to the ground in pain. He crouched just a few feet away, clutching his sword hand painfully. There was a large gash in his wrist, which was bleeding quite steadily. Knowing demon saliva would help stop the gushing blood, he licked up the wound.

Clutching his hand into a fist, Hiei looked up at the demon and growled. Mantis just smirked at him, a face that seemed to taunt and tease.

Unfortunately for him, this was Hiei's pet peeve. "Don't underestimate the wounded dragon," he growled at him. Suddenly, with inhuman speed, he lunged for his sword, snatched it up off the ground, and pressed it up to Mantis's throat. The other demon starred at Hiei, shocked at how quickly the table's had turned. Then Hiei leaned forward and whispered into the blue demon's ear, "even when the head is chopped off, it still bites."

The demon, even with his surprise, was not stupid. Hiei had put himself in a slightly dangerous situation when he had whispered that, leaving his chest unguarded. Mantis jabbed up with his claws, scrapping Hiei and leaving a trail of scratches, but nothing too serious.

But, for all his large talk, Hiei was still badly wounded. Even with his added siliva, his right wrist continued to bleed, making him use his left hand in battle. He could do it, but he wasn't even half as good.

The demon pushed him back, and back. Hiei knew he was loosing, but there was little he could do about it. He would not run from the fight, and there were few techniques that he could do with such little energy. Nothing worth it at least.

Suddenly, with one careless move, Hiei knew it was over. The demon grabbed his necked and pushed him up against the tree. Though the pain was great, Hiei could no longer feel it, with his windpipe completely cut off. And when the demon raised his huge claws, Hiei had only one thought, 'what did I do wrong?'

Then, before Hiei even noticed, a flash dropped out of one of the tree limbs. When the flash landed, the fire demon could see who, or what, it was.

It was another demon, with a young, child like body. His hair was a, long, tangled red mane that swept down his back. His eyes were slim like a cats, and seemed to glow with a green fire. The other demon was upset, although Hiei didn't know why. His ki seemed to radiate with anger and blazed up as he landed.

With a quick flash of his wrist, the small demon pulled out a rose and gave it a jerk. The rose flashed in a sudden thrust of power, and the rose turned from a simple flower to a long, dangerous, green spiked whip.

Mantis seemed to forget about Hiei then, letting him drop to the ground in a thud. Hiei could feel the pain pulsing around him like water, yet he struggled to remain conscious, watching the two demons advance to each other with wide eyes.

The fight wasn't much of one though. Mantis bared his teeth at the red haired demon, snarling threateningly. The other demon though, flicked his whip without a spare movement, and within a second had it rapped around the blue demon's neck. Mantis gasped, reaching his hands up to tear the vine from his throat, but before he could do so, the green-eyed one had made the final move.

With another flick of his wrist, the whip jerked, and with a sudden lash of pain, Mantis fell, with all the bones in his neck broken, dead before he hit the ground.

The red haired demon looked at Mantis's corpse for a moment, seemingly surprised. About what, Hiei couldn't fathom.

Instead, the fire demon did his best to remain small and unnoticeable. When the other demon remembered him, he would no doubt die a very painful death.

The other demon tucked the rose back into his red, school uniform, and then turned back around. Then his eyes lit upon Hiei. 'This is it,' thought Hiei. 'He's planning to kill me now,' as the demon walked over to him and looked down.

Suddenly, Hiei mentally snarled to himself, 'But I'm not going to go down without a fight.' Then, with the last of his strength, hauled himself up and threw his sword out in front of him, with only a little help from the tree behind him.

Then, something odd happened. The other demon did the last thing Hiei expected him to do. He looked down at Hiei sympathetically and said softly to "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

"How am I supposed to believe you?" Hiei spat, not trusting the demon one bit, convinced it was all an act. No demon could be that kind.

"You can't," the other demon told him, shrugging slightly. "You'll just have to take my word for it."

"Hah," Hiei fake laughed. "Like I'd trust a powerful, killer demon."

The demon seemed unfazed by his words. He continued to look down sympathetically and told him, "You don't have much of a choice. Because, you see, in a moment you're going to be unconscious."

And with that, Hiei fell into the dark.

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Hey again!

Guess who! I know I just started this story a few days ago, but like I said then, I wrote this chapter at the same time. Actually, they were originally only one chapter, but it seemed a bit too long, so I made it two.

Thank you for everyone who reviewed! It's nice to know I'm appreciated! Also, make sure to check out my other YYH story, 'Fox Child' which is a parallel story to this one, only the original, so it's much better, plus a good deal longer!

Not much to say now! My new chapter is already written, but since it's almost exactly like the 7th chapter in Fox Child, The Fire and the Thorn, I'm a little hesitant to put it up… Would you guys like to see it anyway? Let me know. If so, I'll probably have it up sometime Monday!

That's all for now!

Dream Fox


	3. The Fox Kid

Disclaimer: Who cares?

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Hiei blinked his eyes, once. Twice. And immediately knew something was seriously wrong.

For one, the ground was much too soft. Even if he was stupid enough to sleep on the ground, rather then in a typical tree, it would be a good deal softer then the cloud he was laying on now.

The other thing was it was much to light. The room, or sky for that matter, seemed to burn his nocturnal eyes. He threw his arm over his eyes, protecting them from the burning luminosity. "Uh," he moaned, feeling a jabbing pain in his arm.

Blinking a few times, despite the annoying brightness, he looked down at his arm. To his surprise, it was bandaged carefully in a white band of fabric, with a little blood soaking through the outsides.

Then, he remembered what had happened. And with a sudden shock, realized what that meant. 'I'm actually still ALIVE?!?!" he realized. 'That red haired demon didn't kill me? Not only that, but he took care of me? What the heck is going on?!?!"

And as if responding to his thoughts, the door opened with a click. A human boy entered, and without looking at Hiei, quickly turned around and closed the door. When he turned back around, their eyes met.

'What's a human doing here?!?!' Hiei wondered. He opened his mouth to demand what was happening, but the human hushed him quickly.

"Mother doesn't know you're here. I'd have a lot of explaining to do if someone else started yelling from my room. Explaining your presence would not be an easy task." Hiei immediately quieted up.

Fighting to sit up despite his wounds, the human rushed over to his side and pushed him back down again. "You have a lot of bad wounds," he told the fire demon. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to do lots of moving."

Hiei lay back down, irritated but realizing the child spoke the truth. Instead, he turned away and looked toward the wall with a "hn."

Suddenly, he felt something caress his arm. He startled a little, and turned to find the human gently taking off his bandages, his warm hands brushing softly against his skin. In one way, the fire demon hated it because it made him feel soft and kind. In retrospect, it felt as if he WAS loved, that maybe someone actually cared about him, even if he didn't know who the human was. He didn't even understand what was going on or why the human was here in the first place. And where had that terrible, red headed demon gone anyway?

"Who are you?" Hiei demanded, trying to make sense out of the situation.

"Kurama," the human answered. Then, he winced slightly. 'What's wrong?' Hiei thought. 'There's nothing wrong with the name, even if it does sound demonic.'

"What's your name?" Kurama asked the fire demon.

Hiei started. Just what was going on here? The demon was helping him and he didn't even know who he was? Voicing his thoughts, Hiei told the human, "You don't even know who I am? And you helped me?" The human called Kurama didn't reply.

After another short moment of silence, the black haired demon replied, "Hiei."

"Hm?" Kurama asked, distracted by his bandaging.

"My name is Hiei," the fire demon, snapped loosing his temper.

Kurama smiled a little, which only irritated Hiei further. "Well, Hiei, you'd better stay here until you're better. Some of those wounds are pretty bad."

Hiei didn't protest immediately, but it was mostly out of courtesy, as little of it as he possessed, he did have a sense of honor. Besides, the human wasn't lying when he said that some of his wounds were bad. They WERE, he just wasn't going to sit around helpless because of it. Besides, that red haired demon might come back.

'Hold on,' Hiei thought, with a sudden jolt. 'Red haired demon? This kid has red hair too. They both are the same size, and have the same green eyes. Just what is going on.'

Then, Hiei took a quick look at Kurama's ki. What he saw surprised him greatly. 'It's demonic, there's no doubt about it. But his body's human and so is his house.'

"Damn it," he growled annoyed, staring at Kurama in frustration. "Just what are you, human or demon? Your body is clearly that of a human and you live in a human house, but your ki defiantly has traces of a demon. Just what the heck are you?!?!"

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Hey!

New chapter up! I know this chapter is exactly like chapter seven in Fox Child, which is why I don't like it very much. The only thing different is it's more in Hiei's point of view. Oh well…

My next chapter is not written yet, so I'm not totally sure when I'll have it up. Hopefully by Thursday, although I really have to work on Fox Child. If not, it'll be up on Tuesday. Sorry for the delays!

Also, I've got a new story for all you YAOI fans. It's called Ashes, Ashes and is also YYH. It's about Kurama and Hiei and is more of a love thing, without too much lovey dovey stuff. It's also pretty dark.

I think that's all for now! Thank you everyone who reviewed!

Dream Fox


	4. Parting of the Pair

Disclaimer: There shall be no disclaimers in this chapter. *Hiei constantly hits Dream Fox over the head with a foldable chair* Okay, okay! Don't get your dragon in a knot! I don't own YYH or any of it's characters.

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After his sudden outburst, the human child looked quite surprised. Then, he did the last thing Hiei expected: he burst out into laughter. Having the distinct feeling he was being laughed at, the fire demon frowned irritably at the wall, waiting impatiently for the child to stop laughing.

Finally, as the red-head's breathing began to even out and as he brushed an invisible tear from his eye, he got control again. "Sorry," he apologized sincerely. "But I keep forgetting how odd I must look to a ki reader. You could say," he said with an odd, slight smirk, "that I'm a slight mixture of the two."

Hiei looked over at him sharply, surprised by his answer. "A half breed?" he asked. 'What else could he be?' he wondered to himself.

The apparent hanyou (a/n: this means half breed in Japanese) shrugged lazily, a small smile still clinging to his lips. "Something like that."

"Besides," the child said, continuing with the re-bandaging, "you're a bit of a odd mix yourself, aren't you? You defiantly have fire powers and it's unquestionable that fire is your main element." Then Kurama frowned a bit. "But you're not totally fire demon either, and I'm not entirely sure what the other half is."

Hiei nearly felt his heart stop, but his self control allowed him to turn away before the surprise showed on his face. 'How could he know? How can he read the bloodlines of a demon that easily? What will I do if he finds out?!?! He helped me, I don't want to kill him!'

In a frantic search for something to change the topic of conversation to, he asked, "And how old are you, anyway? You look like a kid, but you certainly don't act like one."

The hanyou winced for the second time in their conversation, but was polite enough to answer, "I'm eight in the human world. But in the demon world, I'm much older.

'This is interesting. There's more to this hanyou then what first meets the eye.' "How old?" he asked suspiciously.

"Pretty old," the other answered in an obvious attempt to side step the question.

"Exactly how old?" Hiei demanded, the oddness of the situation growing with every passing moment.

Then the hanyou sighed dramatically, giving in to the question. "I'm not exactly sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say about 1000 years or so."

Hiei's eyes nearly popped out of his head at that. 'One thousand YEARS?!?! Good god, the guy's older then the entire ice demon clan! There are probably only six other demons in the worlds that old! He's nearly as old as Enma himself! This hanyou is defiantly not normal!'

"What kind of demon are you, anyway?" He asked the child as the red head pushed the medicine box back under the bed. 'This will tell me a lot about him,' he thought. 'Maybe I've heard of him. Or if I haven't, I can probably find out more later.'

"Kitsune," the green eyed one told the red eyed.

Slightly disappointed by the answer, he responded with, "Hn. A plant wielder, then."

"Hey, it was this plant wielder who saved your life," Kurama told the fire demon irritably. 'Ah, so he does have a temper, then,' Hiei thought smugly, glad to find that the kitsune wasn't completely perfect.

"I'll be leaving then," the fire demon told the kitsune, standing up painfully, but managing to keep his balance. 

Suddenly, Kurama's arm flew out, grabbing Hiei's own hand in a desperate attempt to pull him back to a sitting position, as the hanyou cried, "You just got seriously injured! You should rest before you go get into trouble. Stay here for the night at least!"

Hiei felt a flare of anger arise in him. 'How DARE this….this kitsune touch him like this!' But with sudden realization, it occurred to him how few people touch him. 'How many people have touched me in my life time? In a none fighting way? I could probably count them on the fingers of my hands….'

Instead of yelling at the fox, or slicing his hand off, he just pulled himself out of the kitsune's grasp. "I'd rather just leave," the fire demon told him.

Suddenly, completely spontaneously and without a second thought, he turned around and told the red head, "thanks," and jumped out of the window and into the night.

Upon reflection of that moment, Hiei asked himself many times why he did that. Why had he of all people, turned around and THANKED a kitsune demon, and one who saw him weak and helpless at that? Was it really gratitude? Or was it something else? Demon psychology was not something that was well known to the fire demon, but he knew himself fairly well. If he couldn't answer that question himself, then who knew? It was only years later that he found the answer: that tiny, little "thanks" was the start of his first, real friendship.

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Hey everyone!

Another short chapter, and it took a long time at that. But before you go and get all mad at me, I have a couple good excuses. First of all, copying chapter 7 wording from "Fox Child" is an exceedingly boring task. This was most certainly not a very fun chapter to write. The other thing is that I missed all the episodes where you as the audience are introduced to Yukina, so I didn't want to say something that would drastically go against the anime series. Since I'm watching those episodes right now, chapters will probably come more frequently. I think the next several chapters will be a lot more entertaining.

And to those of you that haven't read "Fox Child" yet, I defiantly suggest you do so! It's a parallel story to this one in the point of view focusing on Kurama. In fact, if you haven't read this story yet, which you probably already have considering you're reading this, go do that first! That story is a lot better then this one, at least in my opinion. Besides, it's updated a lot more often.

This story will probably be updated on Thursday the 26 of June, so stay tuned and talk to you all soon!

Dream Fox


	5. Meet your Doom

Disclaimer: Who cares?

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"What the hell do mean, I didn't complete the task?! I killed the damn demon, didn't I?!" Hiei swore at the platform of demons who looked down at him, an assortment of expressions on their faces. Some carried sympathy or impassiveness, but most simply looked on with content and distaste.

"NO," one of the demons spoke up, from just to the left side of the platform. "You had HELP. Outside help, which you know is NOT permitted. You should be happy we're not punishing you, half breed!" Hiei felt his hackles raise at the snide name, baring his teeth but managing to suppress a growl. 

"I THOUGHT," he snarled, just barely keeping his wild temper under control, "that I was to get a reward for doing what you asked. You never SAID that there were conditions to his death. You should have specified THAT before you agreed to my terms."

"The terms were," the main demon spoke up, voice even and expression impassive, "that YOU kill the demon. If the demon dies by another's hand, then he didn't die by yours, which means that it was YOU, not us, to not keep up their side of the bargain.

Taking several deep breaths to keep from lashing up with snide names of his own, he looked up at the platform of thieves. "Very well," he agreed, mouth and throat tight. "I shall except the fact that you refuse to give me a large break in, but could you at least choose a new assignment that better suits my taste. Not another," he raised his lips in contempt as he spat, "assassination," like a bitter, sour word.

The leader looked at him for a moment, clearly in thought, as both the fire demon and the rest of the council watched him for his answer. "Very well," he finally agreed, and Hiei let a breath escape that he didn't know he was holding. "I agree. But, unfortunately I do not have a case in mind at the moment. Stay around for a week or so, and we'll have an assignment by then. Visit Kilna in five moons for the new task you will be given."

And as Hiei turned to leave the gathering of the council of thieves, the leader spoke up again. "And Hiei," he said, as the fire demon turned around to meet the main spokesperson's dark, black eyes. "We expect you to finish the assignment in a quick, orderly fashion. We shall not tolerate mess ups like the last." 

And with a quick bow, Hiei let the heavy, wooden carved door bang shut behind him, sounding throughout the council room like a gunshot.

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It was on that day that the council told him, that Hiei went through the twisting and turning off the halls at his usual quick walking pace. When he at last reached two large, and obviously expensive glass doors, he pushed them open with little effort and entered a small room, much like that of an office, with large wooden shelves, a desk, and a lamp next to one large easy chair. To the right was a doorway leading to a small hallway with only three, small closets.

The fire demon entered, and cast his sharp, blazing red eyes around the room, looking for the person he was sent here to see. "Hello, Hiei love!" a voice called from the small back hallway. "Stay right there, I'll be out in a second!"

There was the sound of moving papers as Hiei sat down in the green, easy chair, soon fallowed by a thud, a high pitched squeak of a woman. Finally, out staggered a black haired, cat demon, buried in the piles of papers she was caring. She staggered across the room, unable to see anything in her path, and after a second of watching her with amusement, Hiei stood up. Sighing deeply, he walked over to the cat girl, taking half of her huge stack of papers, "Idiot, Kilna," he mumbled, taking them from her. "If you crashed something, then you'd have an even bigger mess then you do now."

Kilna set her pile of papers down with a toothy grin. "Aw, Hiei," she babied jokingly. "I didn't know you cared! Should we have the wedding this winter, or wait till spring?"

Hiei shook his head in contempt, doing a very adept job at hiding the blush that was spreading inward. Kilna laughed in joy, as the fire demon muttered some very rude phrases to the female, something about it being no surprise cats were solitary creatures.

"Anyhow," she grinned at him as her laughing finally settled down. "The council sent you about your new mission, right?"

"Hn," Hiei answered, knowing the female cat would not mistake it for anything other then agreement.

"Well, this is no laughing matter," she told him with a sideward glance, as she walked gracefully over to one of the brown shelves, flipping through several cream colored folders before she finally found the one she wanted.

"Here you go," she handed the packet to him, as he carefully took it. "Won't be easy. I guess they want you to steal something from Enma's own vault."

"What?!" Hiei glanced up sharply from the folder he had yet to open, his eyes wide and face temporarily whipped of the impassive look he usually held.

"Yup," Kilna shrugged. "I don't know much about it myself. After all, it's not like I go rooting through peoples files or anything."

Hiei sniffed loudly, a gesture that obviously thought otherwise. Kilna grinned at him. "Okay," she admitted. "MOST of the time."

The fire demon sighed deeply as he starred down at the still unopen packet. The cat, obviously sensing his emotions, said kindly to him, "go sit down over there where you can read about it in peace," she motioned to the chair. "Take your time. You're going to have to know this job good in order to succeed."

Mindlessly obeying her instructions, he ambled over to the chair, slipping into it with ease, still staring down at the folder. Finally, with a last big sigh, he opened it up slowly.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hello everyone!

I know it's been a very long time since I've written in this story, but now that Ashes is done, I can focus more on Fire Thief and Fox Child. Another story should probably be starting too, so keep your eyes peeled!

Not much to say, but thank you everyone for all the reviews! Feel free to email me about anything at all! I absolutely love email!!!!

Dream Fox


	6. Update!

Hello Everyone!  
  
It's me again! I hate to tease you so much, but once again there is NO UPDATE today!!! There will, however be a new update for Fox Child on Thursday November 20th, and a Fire Child update on Tuesday November 25th. In addition, a new YYH story will be up as well on the 20th, and my new DEMON DIARY story was just posted today! Stay tuned for more of everything, and I promise.  
  
THIS TIME I WILL STICK TO WHAT I SAY!!!  
  
Encouragement through reviews and email is always appreciated!  
  
Loves and kisses loyal fans, and thanks through helping me through my writers block! Once again, I am INSPIRED!!!  
  
Dream Fox 


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